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Political and economic imbalances coupled with social discrimination based on religion, language, caste and ethnicity are contributing to human rights violations, widespread poverty, hunger and illiteracy. The prolonged insurgency in Kashmir has affected the dynamics of Hindu-Muslim relationship, particularly in India and Pakistan and Bangladesh in general. The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka has created the Sinhalese-Tamil tension and the state’s intolerance of Bhutan has created thousands of refugees in Nepal. The inadequate constitutional protection at state level and the lack of institutional legal provision at regional level are contributing to the continuation of this situation. States and minorities in South Asia: a general overview State Ethnic groups Bhutan Bhote 50%, ethnic Nepalese 35% (includes Lhotsampas - one of several Nepalese ethnic groups), indigenous or migrant tribes 15% Bangladesh Bengali 98%, other 2% (includes tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims) (1998) India Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Other 3% (2000) Nepal Chhettri 15.5%, Brahman-Hill 12.5%, Magar 7%, Tharu 6.6%, Tamang 5.5%, Newar 5.4%, Muslim 4.2%, Kami 3.9%, Yadav 3.9%, other 32.7%, unspecified 2.8% (2001) Language groups Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects Bangla (also known as Bengali), English Hindi 30%, Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanscrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu; Hindustani (many in government and business also speak English) Nepali 47.8%, Maithali 12.1%, Bhojpuri 7.4%, Tharu (Dagaura/Rana) 5.8%, Tamang 5.1%, Newar 3.6%, Magar 3.3%, Awadhi 2.4%, other 10%, unspecified 2.5% Religious communities Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects Muslim 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998) Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001) Hindu 80.6%, Buddhist 10.7%, Muslim 4.2%, Kirant 3.6%, other 0.9% (2001) 22
Pakistan Punjabi 44.1%, Pashtun (Pathan) 15.4%, Sindhi 14.1%, Sariaki 10.5%, Urdu 7.6%, Balochi 3.6%, other 4.7% (1998) Sri Lanka Sinhalese 73.8%, Sri Lankan Moors 7.2%, Indian Tamil 4.6%, Sri Lankan Tamil 3.9%, other 0.5%, unspecified 10% (2001) Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official; lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski and other 8% Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8% (many in government and business also speak English) Muslim 97% (Sunni 77%, Shi'a 20%), other (includes Christian and Hindu) 3% Buddhist 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified 10% + (2001) Data based on Rita Manchanda (ed.), The No-Nonsense Guide to Minority Rights in South-Asia (SAFHR, 2006) and the census of the South Asian countries Useful links: Asian Human Rights Commission, at http://www.ahrchk.net/index.php Bangladesh - Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM), at http://www.hrcbm.org/ Bangladesh Human Rights Commission, at http://bhrc-bd.org/index.htm Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, at http://www.hrcp-web.org/index.cfm Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, at http://www.hrcsl.lk/ National Human Rights Commission of India, at http://nhrc.nic.in/ National Human Rights Commission Nepal, at http://www.nhrcnepal.org/ Data on South Asia: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, at http://www.bbs.gov.bd/ Census of India, at http://www.censusindia.gov.in/ Government of Pakistan, Population Census Organization, at http://www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/pco/statistics/statistics.html Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics, at http://www.cbs.gov.np/ Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka, at http://www.statistics.gov.lk/ References: Asian Development Bank, 2005, Ethnicity and Caste Diversity: Implications for Development, NRM working Paper No.4 Castellino Joshua & Domínguez-Redondo Elvira, Minority Rights in Asia: A Comparative Constitutional Analysis (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) Manchanda Rita (ed.), The No-Nonsense Guide to Minority Rights in South-Asia (SAFHR, 2006) 23
Page 1 and 2: Material for specialized media EURA
Page 3 and 4: Table of contents I. Introduction .
Page 5 and 6: I.2 Who are minority groups? Ethnic
Page 7 and 8: Useful links: European Centre for M
Page 9 and 10: Article 27 of the International Cov
Page 11 and 12: II. Understanding of minorities II.
Page 13 and 14: II.2 A general overview on national
Page 15 and 16: Endangered minorities Major difficu
Page 17 and 18: II.3 Religious minorities and the M
Page 19 and 20: References: Anwar Muhammad, “Musl
Page 21: Caste-based discrimination In South
Page 25 and 26: • Being first, in the geographic
Page 27 and 28: III. Legal provisions on the protec
Page 29 and 30: III.2 Minority protection under the
Page 31 and 32: III.3 The European Charter for Regi
Page 33 and 34: One more positive result of this fi
Page 35 and 36: Source: Council of Europe's Secreta
Page 37 and 38: Useful Links Council of Europe's Se
Page 39 and 40: The EU, unlike the CoE and the OSCE
Page 41 and 42: Useful links: European Research Cen
Page 43 and 44: Considering the variety of situatio
Page 45 and 46: activities are centered on official
Page 47 and 48: etween principles and real practice
Page 49 and 50: The following table tries to summar
Page 51 and 52: 3. Mentioning ethnicity “Is the i
Page 53: Useful links: Maynard Institute for

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